By Mark Etheridge
Eastern excellence may have been the order of the day in the men’s half-marathon at the Summer Universiade in Taipei, Taiwan, on Sunday, but in the team stakes silver medal honours went south, all the way to the tip of the African continent.
South Africa’s four athletes combined to place second as three Japanese athletes filled the podium, and then added a fifth-place finish.
Kei Katanishi won in 66min 09sec and South Africans Mokofane Kekana, Thabang Masihleho, Collen Mulaudzi and Mariano Eesou finished fifth, 14th, 19th and 32nd respectively.
The quartet finished 2min 48sec 4:55, 5:28 and 9:29 behind the winner.
Eesou was part of Team South Africa at the African Games in Brazzaville, Congo, two years ago.
In the women’s half-marathon, also won by a Japanese athlete, Yuki Munehisa in 1:13.48, Letitia Saayman was South Africa’s best finisher in 15th spot (1:23.57).
On a Sunday which proved the South African team’s most successful day, another silver medal came the way of Rantso Mokopane in the men’s steeplechase.
Potchefstroom University’s Mokopane, who celebrated his 23rd birthday earlier this month, clocked 8:36:25 in a close run race won by Poland’s Krystian Zalewski in 8:35.88.
The two track medals bring South Africa’s 2017 Universiade tally to five, with only Tatjana Schoenmaker’s breaststroke silver coming from another code.
South Africa, still in search of their first gold at these 29th Summer Universiade Games, are now 42nd on the medals table
Japan top the table with an astounding 78 medals after 10 days of competition, with Korea second (71) and the host nation Taiwan third with 66.
Still on the track, and Rynardt van Rensburg may be the man to change all that after he won his semi-final to book a place in the 800m final on Monday.
He won the second of three semis in a time of 1:48.97sec, beating Czech athlete Filip Snejdr into second (1:49.04).
Joining him in the final will be Hendrik Uys, whose 1:48.66 fourth place in the first semi saw him going through as one of the fastest losers.
In the final, only France’s America Lusine has a quicker season’s best than the two South Africans.
In another final, Kesa Molotsane ended ninth in the women’s 5000m, clocking a personal best 16:01.76 as Germany’s Hanna Klein won in 15:42.28.
Football saw the SA men go down 1-2 to Canada in the play-off for 9-12 positions. South Africa’s goal came from midfielder Tapelo Sixishe in the 45th minute.
And in the women’s category, SA lost 4-0 to Brazil in their semi-final clash, after being 2-0 down at half-time.